Oregon State Beavers football: Is Mike Riley’s job in jeopardy?

Beaver Nation Is Upset!?

Mike Riley is a beloved figure at Oregon State University. He’s coached the Beavers to a 69-57 record; he’s 5-1 in bowl games; and he led OSU to three-straight final-poll AP Top-25 rankings from 2006 to 2008.

But that doesn’t change the fact that the Beavers’ 0-4 start is their worst in 15 years. Desperation is creeping into Beaver Nation and it’s enough to make me wonder if Riley’s job is safe.

Even he recently admitted that “This is obviously, for all of our staff, one of our biggest challenges ever.

Is Mike Riley’s job in jeopardy?

This season, this team.

It would be one thing if OSU was a rebuilding team expected to endure a tough season – but that wasn’t the case. Most of us viewed last year’s 5-7 flop as an anomaly and expected a bounce-back from Oregon State.

So a losing season in 2011 means Riley and the Beavers have failed miserably.

The worst part is that Oregon State has already lost two of its most winnable games – including a home game against the FCS’ Sacramento State and a home tilt against UCLA. The road ahead isn’t easy.

The Beavers’ next two games are at home, but against equally desperate Arizona and BYU teams; after that, they travel to improved Washington State and Utah; then, they close out the season with a murderer’s row of Stanford, Cal, Washington and Oregon.